Catherine Huang-Begovic, MD, FACS

I had a consult with Dr. Cat Begovic for abdominal lipo revision. I had made the mistake of going to a PA run chop shop in San DIego and ended up developing 3 cannula shaped dents in my lower abdominal wall, each about 2 cm. When I say cannula shaped I mean you could literally see the path of the cannula from how over-aggressive the PA was.

In any case, Dr. Cat was excellent. She struck me as thoughtful, extremely well spoken and to the point. Though I didn't end up going with her for the surgery, she gave me a more clear understanding of her approach to repair than any other surgeon I spoke with, and I had already talked to quite a few.

Just also a message to any prospective patients about the very few negative reviews One thing that stood out to me most was her blunt honesty. Like a lot of surgeons out there will sugar coat or misrepresent a situation to try to get your business, it was clear she also comes across as very focused on with clear patient expectations too. Sometimes that means a person may not hear what they want to hear at the moment, but it's better in the long run. I think Dr. Cat is just extremely honest.

The consult fee might be off putting if you've been consulting with less top tier surgeons, but she's amongst the best in her field so you're gonna have to pay for it. It's the standard these days for being best in class.

Dr. Cat is amazing!! Hands down she is the best at what she does. Definitely a miracle worker! If you are thinking of getting any procedure make sure you go to the absolute best, and that is Dr. Cat. Her staff is amazing! Dr. Cat truly cares about her patients and it definitely shows. I was anxious about the procedure but Dr. Cat made sure to make me feel comfortable throughout the entire process. The day of my surgery She held my hand until I fell asleep. She is so thoughtful and caring. Believe it when you read that the procedures are painless to very little pain. I had a revision tummy tuck and I couldn't believe how little pain was associated with the cut. I took Tylenol for 2 days and after that nothing at all. The healing process was amazing. I am so glad that I chose Dr. Cat as my surgeon. Don't cut corners when it comes to plastic surgery, go to the best! Go see Dr. Cat!!

Dr Cat is an amazing plastic surgeon! Her attention to detail is meticulous including her bedside manners. She never rushed me and let me ask as many questions as I like. Her staff are excellent and the entire experience made me feel special. I have been following Dr. Cat on instagram for years and when it came time for my surgery, she was by far the obvious choice! Post Tummy Tuck surgery, the only pain killer I need was Tylenol.

Experiencing the talent, care and professionalism of Dr. Cat was exceptional! This was my first “big” surgery and of course I had a ton of questions, but that didn’t bother Dr. Cat. She was super thorough and patient during our office visits, took her time in not only explaining and answering my questions, but she had many questions for me as well. It demonstrated to me her GENUINE care on the total wellbeing of her patients – that, made me certain I had made the BEST choice for a surgeon. I knew she would take pride in her work to provide me with optimal results. For me, this procedure was a big deal and establishing a relationship with Dr. Cat with the level of comfort she creates, is invaluable. Post-surgery, the experience has been just as great. She has been kind, accessible and responsive during my healing process. I’ve had zero bruising, and the pain for the first week was managed with only Tylenol – that’s it! Not to mention, the best part - I am loving my results! I have a couple more procedures planned in the near future, and I can’t wait for Dr. Cat to share her talent with me again.

My second time with dr cat - wouldn’t dare go anywhere else - she is just the best - very artistic and knowledgeable- she takes her time and perfects every little detail - I had my first experience with her with my tummy tuck and it totally transformed my body since I carried 7 babies- everyone comments on how well my belly button looks - I just had a BBL and again dr cat did amazing - she took great time to perfect and even out my body - all of the staff there too are super cool and helpful - beautiful office as well - would highly recommend seeing her for something as life changing as plastic goes

After losing over 110 pounds through diet and exercise, I found myself with a significant amount of excess skin on my abdomen. Research led me to find Dr. Cat and I’m so beyond thankful that I did. Dr. Cat’s meticulous approach to my abdominoplasty literally has changed my life. I travelled from NYC to Los Angeles for this procedure and I do not regret that decision at all. I’ve been able to transform from feeling ashamed of my belly and loose skin to feeling proud of the accomplishment I have achieved with the weight loss. Dr. Cat and her team were incredibly helpful in all the pre-operative meetings and consultations (which were done over video conference since it was still during COVID). They sent me tons of information, and helped me prepare for this procedure. I watched all of her videos on instagram, etc in advance and all the results looked amazing and she always said “little to no pain” in recovery. I couldn’t imagine how that was the case, but I have to tell you - she does such an incredible job and I literally had very very little pain. I didn’t have to take anything by Tylenol. It’s been 4 months since my abdominoplasty, and I’ve been able to wear a tiny bikini with pride all Summer. The incision line is healing beautifully and is very thin and I can hide it very easily under my bikini. Not only are my results fantastic, but Dr. Cat is so attentive throughout the entire journey from when you have your consultation through all the check ins afterwards. I have recommended her to many people now and would tell anyone to go see her. I will be forever grateful to have found her!

As someone who has little to no pain tolerance , getting a necessary tummy tuck was something i always feared but knew i would eventually need. I’ve followed plastic surgeons for YEARS and always saw the same results and post op pain. I also know many women close to me who have had a tummy tuck and talked about how much pain they were in post op, to the point of even having slight regret for having had the surgery.
Then a couple years ago i found Dr.Cat on social media and instantly could see how different her operations and her post op results were. It’s day and night from any surgery you’ve ever seen.
I finally decided to pull the trigger and book my surgery early 2021 and a little over 1 week ago i had my tummy tuck. Let me tell you , YOUR TUMMY TUCK DOES NOT NEED TO BE PAINFUL! I was on TYLENOL for 5 days. No narcotics. After that only took as needed because honestly my pain was minimal.
Also- most people speculate your belly button is the true revealer of a tummy tuck, but mine looks so natural, i can’t wait to heal completely and finally wear a bikini!
I’m so grateful to Dr.Cat and her staff. Everyone from day 1 has been helpful, sweet, and always attentive to me and my pre and post surgical needs.
If you need any kind of plastic surgery, she is the one to go to.

I had a labiaplasty with clitoral hood reduction with Dr. Cat about 6 weeks ago. It was the best decision I ever made! I considered this surgery for years and I'm beyond glad I chose her. She's an amazing surgeon, super thorough and she makes you feel so comfortable about it. Even on the day of surgery she was so sweet and I wasn't nervous at all. The recovery was almost painless. I took 2 pain pills on the day of surgery and after that just took Tylenol and had no pain. Recovery is so much easier than you would expect. I'm so happy with my decision to choose Dr Cat and get this surgery done. It's life-changing

First of all I would like to thank dr.cat, she's amazing. I've have been wanting to do a tummy tuck for yrs after having 5 kids, just couldn't settle down with which dr., I've been following dr.Cat on ig and finally I'm like you know what I'm going with her. I can say its so worth it! Not a single regret! I'm a out of town patient, had my consultant done over the phone( which I chose that option worked best for me at that time) had 2 telephone conference and before surgery day had a in person pre op. She's friendly, very honest, genuine and makes you feel comfortable, and no she's not a sales dr never once she tried to get me into another procedure. She concentrated on what your concerns are and focus on that. I wanted a picture with her and she's so nice and sweet about it, was not even in a rush with taking pic what dr would ever do that! Her staffs are super sweet too btw. I'm on my 7 day post op and I feel great no pain at all beside my back pain due to the way I have to walk. I'm healing great, a little swollen which is normal and very little fluids. I've call her 2x after surgery and got the answer I needed asap back, which is great. I was expecting more pain than this but it must be her special technique her experience I don't know what it is but she's way beyond great at what she's doing for me to have zero pain after a tummy tuck, I'm amazed! My incision so far looks great, thin and low. Thank you so much dr.cat, I've made the right choice to have you create this amazing art work on me. I can't wait till my 4week post op !!

Hi Everyone,
I really wanted to share my story with you today because I feel like its so important to emphasize the importance of doing your research of picking a plastic surgeon and the results of what happens if you don’t do it right the first time.
It all started for me about 12 years ago. I was 22 years old and had lost approximately 30 lbs. As a result of that, I felt great but I had a small pouch of fat in my lower and upper abdomen that I just could not get rid of. It was so uncomfortable for me to have that, especially how tiny I was, so I decided I wanted to get rid of it with liposuction.
Although the internet existed at the time, social media was not as prominent, so I did not have the tools that we do now with Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. I know social media can be portrayed in a negative light at times, but I really feel like its such a powerful tool now for doing research on who it is that will ultimately be operating on your body. Not only can you do research in general about the background of the surgeon, you can actually watch them operate live. So I unfortunately did not have this, nor did I take the time to do my research, I was young and eager. As a result, I went with someone that was recommended to me by word of mouth. She was not a board certified plastic surgeon, she was a gynocologist. She was also very affordable, which of course may sound so glamorous at the time, thinking to yourself you can get so much for your buck. Unfortunately what I didn’t know then is the money I’d be spending later on in life to fix the damage she had done to me.
I had my surgery with her and when I saw it post-op, I remember thinking, wow my body looks very lumpy. I even brought it up to her at one point and all she said was to just wait it out, it would settle. Unfortunately, it never settled. I was young at the time and never really turned back to her to fix it. I just accepted that thats how my body was, and thats how I would have to learn to live with it. I would never wear a 2 piece swimsuit, I would never let anyone look at my stomach. I myself I wouldn’t even look at my stomach when coming out of the shower, I would just lower the lights to avoid seeing all the lumps.
I spent about 10 years living this way. I remember one day when I read Tara Reid’s story about how she was botched, and I saw her stomach and saw that I could relate to it, I had never seen anyone else with the problem I had and it was so nice to know I wasn’t alone. I also finally came to the realization, I was botched. I did my research when her story came out, but still did not feel like I was at a place to pursue repairing it.
Finally a couple of years ago, I decided I was ready. I began to do my research, and there like a bright light at the end of a very dark tunnel, I came across the amazing Dr. Cat Begovic. I have to admit I was a bit intimidated that she was in Beverly Hills, but the minute I called her office, my mind was at ease. They were so incredibly kind, it just made me that much more excited to meet her.
The day of my consultation was one of the best days of my life. I went in to her office and her staff was so incredibly welcoming and sweet. When Dr. Cat walked in, it felt like I’d known her forever. She was SO sweet, intelligent, educated, understanding, and really took her time with me. She gave me something I had not had in 12 years…hope. I looked at her previous work and I knew that was it, she was my doctor. We decided to go with revision liposuction / fat grafting. I did not want to do anything too invasive yet, I wanted to give the fat grafting a try. She was VERY clear at the type of results I should expect and we set realistic expectations. I knew it would not be 100%, and that was okay. If I could even see 50% improvement, that would be night and day for me.
The surgery went smoothly and I was walking around that night. Dr. Cat called me that night to check on me and I had a follow up with her the next day. She said she could tell how aggressive the previous surgeon had been with me when she went in to operate. She said there was so much scar tissue and I’m lucky the previous surgeon didn’t harm me. It’s so scary to think that with my previous surgery, I was under the hands of someone that had no idea what she was doing and I put myself at risk like that.
I can’t believe how little I bruised with Dr. Cat’s brilliant work. The overall recovery was so smooth. When I saw the results I was in pure shock, I could not believe the improvement I saw. I cried so much. Dr. Cat is a miracle worker.
Before I go on, I just want to emphasize that I was THRILLED with the results. My decision to have an additional procedure had nothing to do with the work she did on the revision liposuction. It was purely my decision as wanting to take a step even further in my journey. She had done such a great job that I wanted to go the next step.
My weight has been a bit of a roller coaster throughout the years, so even though the fat grafting was absolutely amazing, I still had some loose skin. This year, I was ready to take the next step in my journey and do a tummy tuck to remove the loose skin. I was quite nervous about this procedure but Dr. Cat of course put my mind at ease. I opted not to do muscle repair since I do not have any kids and I workout frequently. This was not needed in my scenario.
On June 5th I underwent my tummy tuck and it went wonderfully! Dr. Cat asked that I spend one night at a recovery center, Serenity, and it truly worked out wonderfully because they are SO amazing and take such good are of you. They took such good care of me that I decided to spoil myself and spend an additional night there ;) it was so well worth it. I was so shocked at the minimal level of pain I had. I was walking the same day, and the next. Dr. Cat ended up removing about 4 inches of skin off of my stomach. I do have both a horizontal incision and a very small vertical incision but I was just fine with that. She did inform me in advance that this would likely be the case. The scar though looks so thin already! When I saw my results, I truly cannot express how happy I was.
Dr. Cat fixed me. She rid me of any reminders I had of my past surgery. She gave me hope for the future and confidence in myself again. As I sit here today, 8 days post op, I feel amazing and I’m ready to go back to work tomorrow. She is SO incredibly gentle and takes her time, it makes all the difference in the world in the recovery process. If you watch her surgeries on her snapchat you will see just that, she is a true perfectionist.
I’m sorry this has gone on so long but I wanted to make sure and share all my details with you, as I wish someone had with me when I first decided to do surgery. My advice would be this…PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do your research. Do not settle for someone based on the rate they give you. This is your body and you only get one of them. Make sure the surgeon is board certified, make sure its someone you are 100% comfortable with. Check their website, social media, snapchat if they have, check it all. Real Self is also such an amazing tool where people can share their stories. I get so angry at myself for not getting it right the first time and for putting myself through this, but I know its all a lesson learned and if my story can help others and can educate through my mistakes, then I know its well worth the journey.
To my dear amazing Dr. Cat and her incredible staff…words cannot express how thankful I am to you for giving me my body back. I finally feel like I can go out there with confidence and I don’t have to hide my stomach anymore. Thank you for fixing me and for always being so kind, thoughtful, honest, loving, and caring. I love you all so much and I will be internally grateful to you.
As I mentioned earlier, I am currently 8 days post-op but I will continue to post photos as I recover. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thanks and good luck to anyone considering surgery!

Updated on 25 Jun 2017:
These are additional photos of the liposuction Dr. Cat performed on my back. She used the fat from my back for the grafting to my upper and lower abdomen.

Updated on 19 Aug 2017:
Here is a photo about 6 weeks post op. I can finally see my abs again! I am currently wearing embrace scar therapy strips on my scar which is why I haven't pictured but I will provide an update with that one once I am done with the treatments.

Updated on 19 Aug 2017:
This was 6 weeks post op

Updated on 24 Aug 2020:
Here is an updated photo of my scar after 3 years as well as my stomach! I am so happy with my decision. The scar has faded to almost nothing. I love my belly button, its so natural. I can't thank Dr. Cat enough, she changed my life.